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The status bar is the rectangular panel that runs along the bottom of an Explorer window and displays settings and statistics about the selected files, folders, or disks. The status bar is divided into sections, each of which shows different information. If you’re used to an earlier Windows version, you’ll notice that the status bar is hidden by default in XP.

To show or hide the status bar:

In Windows Explorer, choose View > Status Bar to toggle the status bar on or off (Figure 5.6).

Figure 5.6. The Windows Explorer status bar (along the bottom of the window) shows the number of objects selected, their combined size, and free disk space.